The Importance Of Taoism In The Novel: A Wizard Of Earthsea

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Recommended: Power in our societies

Revant Khullar
AHS 1000
Professor Ronald A Waite
Paper 1
A Taoist Wizard
“Taoism is the Religion of the Tao, a term meaning Path or Way, but denoting in this peculiar case the way, course or movement of the Universe, her processes and methods. In other words, Taoism is the Religion of Heaven and Earth, of the Cosmos, of the World or Nature in the broadest sense of these words.” (De Groot 66)
Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea shares a lot of themes with Lao Tzu, the legendary philosopher’s Tao Te Ching. A Wizard of Earthsea has a constant theme of controlling power and of not ruining the balance. The more power a person has, the more responsibility he or she bestows. The book also focuses on the need of one to be farsighted, and to seek consequences. Ged represents an average young man of today, who seeks power, and doesn’t realize that every one of his actions has consequence. In Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu constantly talks about doing by not doing. This does not mean literally not doing anything, but it means not doing those things that don’t follow the way of nature, which is simil...

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